Thursday, May 19, 2011

I forgot to tell you about the other new and totally not-eatable thing I found during the cow hike: foxtails.

I never knew a plant could be evil, but Foxtails are completely evil. Not as evil as, say, rattlesnakes in Texas - but for a plant they're pretty nasty. Foxtails can get up your nose and in your ears and can bury into your skin.

Evil, right?

In the beginning of our hike we ran into another pug who just had one removed from his face. The whole side of his face was shaved and there was a great big cut from where the vet sliced him open. Not cool.

Seeing that poor pug's face made my human extra-paranoid about the foxtails so I got carried a lot during our hike. It was kinda cool to see things other than Dutch's butt, but I hate being carried around. I'm also kinda wondering if that's why no one would let me eat from the aid station table... y'know, because I didn't workout hard enough.

Dumb plants.

Do you have evil things like foxtails and rattlesnakes lurking around where you live? My human never saw a foxtail until she moved here, so please let everyone know about the weird stuff in your hood that wants to hurt you. Just in case your humans don't know about it.

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SPECIALNESS!Lots of cookies and a Happy Whelp Day to Toby Moses :)

30 comments:

Thanks for the birthday well wishes! I have already had a sweet potato, rawhide, and chicken twist and a nommy "Honey's Bakery" cookie. Mama said something about macky cheese for lunch'ums. I also got some cool new stuffs that I'll share later on the Slimmer puggums bloggy.Much brotherly fist bumps,Toby Moses Mans

We haven't seen it in person, but our people are sometimes on the lookout for "Giant Hogweed" (a.k.a "Giant Cow Parsley") on walks since there are huge campaigns here to get rid of it. Sounds harmless to me (cows and parsley!), but aparently it is pretty nasty if it touches you.

We haven't run into anything EVIL on our walks and hikes, so far....but something deadly is Oliver the Dalmatian (sorry Dutch) at work. He wants Mack dead...and has tried a few times. We stay far away from him, with closed doors, baby gates and leashes.

Yeah, Paxton had a foxtail stuck up in his gums one time. We noticed he was scratching his face when we got back from our hike so we took him to the vet. During the examination, the vet checked his gums and sure enough there was one that was stuck up there.

Oh Puglet...you seem to always find what is wrong out there and glad you do so you can report it back to us, thank you for that! Never knew that about foxtails, seen them, but did not know to stay away from them.

We have possums in our hood, I say they are evil cuz they hiss when I try to check them out and they just look evil too!

Dear Puglet,YIKES! The foxtails sound really nasty. I don't think we have those here, unless they're related to foxes. We have foxes in our 'hood! My human is always concerned about the foxes, but I think me and Chili can take em. Someone once warned our human about birds of prey snatching us off the ground from the sky, but we've never really had anything like that happen. As far as we know, we don't have any evil plants in our 'hood, but we're not allowed to sniff lillies or certain flowers. No idea why...

Poison oak is another evil plant that might live near you, Puglet! It makes you super itchy and inflamed. A really big, bad rash. People are more vulnerable than dogs because dogs because fur keeps the oils away from your skin. If it gets to less furry places or you eat it (eeeek!) you'll be in for a bad time that cookies can't fix.

Hey Puglet: My mom had another dog a way long,long time ago (way before me) that got a foxtail in one of his eyes. It went behind the eyeball and the vet had to slice his eyelid and cut a chunk out of the back side of his eyeball. He also got one that went up his private part (OUCH!!!), and tried to burrow its way back out through the skin. It got severely infected, so the vet had to perform emergency surgery on him (you know, that surgery they do on boy dogs so they can't make babies???). Mom says it was pretty nasty - he almost lost his whole private part becuase of it. So, yes - foxtails are VERY, VERY EVIL, so avoid them at all costs!!!!

We live in New Jersey. Not sure where that is in the world but Mom says it is right next to the Atlantic Ocean. The big huge pond with things called waves that knock little guys like me over when I'm not looking.

Waves are dangerous cause they knock you over and they bring up things like dead fish and things called sea shells that Mom says we can't ever have.

Once she had a bowl of sea shells on the table (I don't understand why you can't eat things off the table that's in a bowl) but Lea ate some of them and Mom made her eat cotton balls soaked in chicken brooth, which doesn't seem like a punishment to me.

Anyway, Mom said the cotton would bind with and coat the shells and allow Lea to poop em out. After that, the bowl of shells disappeared like magic.

Eww! My mom is cringing right now after reading about all those horrible foxtail stories. We never heard of it before. I'd say the only stuff around my place is the same as Pearl and Tessa and Coco...ticks and foxes and coyotes and large birds of prey. Mom found a tick on my elbow in Chicago recently and hasn't stopped itching. Icky things.I want to move to a place that is sunny, 70, and free of evil things...if anyone knows of such a location, let me know!Love,Payton

My human had NO idea that foxtails were so evil and is so very thankful you shared that piece of information with us today. I guess now she won't mind too much when I snatch dandilions (right off the stem) on our walks. She does want you to know that we have two VERY evil critters in our yard. The first is a skunk. He likes to prowl in the yard at night and we have had a few close encounters in the past. Fortunately we have not been sprayed. Three pups we know have not been so lucky. I certainly don't want to go through what they did to get rid of the stink. As it is I don't like getting wet so I guess I better stay away and NOT bark at the skunk next time we see it. The next EVIL critter is the WORST and that is the possum/opussum. Maggie sure was right in warning you to stay away from them. Before I came to live with my humans there was one living under the shed in the back yard. Our next door neighbors cat didn't come home one night. He was found dead behind the shed. YES, DEAD!!!! You may not know this but cats are typically more curious then dogs. This cat must have been sniffing around the possum's house under the shed when the possum jumped up and bit him in the neck. Those NASTY critters have big sharp teeth and kitty died right in his tracks. Do NOT ever try to befriend a possum. Trust me on this one.

Mack, I'm sorry Ollie the Evil wants to eat you. Don't tell Dutch I said this, but those spotted dogs can be kinda crazy. Luckily, he is just weird. Unless you have testicles (and are a dog). Then he will try to eat you.

Gabby, uh, if you say that Robin is evil it must be evil. Whatever you say...

NJ Shore Puggles, my human is from the Jersey place but she never heard of the cotton ball trick. Good to know! We have a different ocean here (with much bigger waves, apparently) but I still find shells on the beach sometimes and when I do, I like to eat them. Ooops.

Here in Vermont we have PORCUPINES. They're covered in quills, and if you mess with them you'll get quills stuck in you. The quills are barbed, so not only are they very painful to have removed, they migrate *inward*.

A Border Collie friend just got quilled on her face and on her side and had to go to the emergency vet. Apparently with every breath the quills in her side migrated closer and closer to her heart and lungs. The vet said she was *very* lucky her humans brought her into the ER because if they hadn't she wouldn't have lived through the night.

So please let your readers in porc areas know that a quilling isn't just painful, it's a potentially deadly emergency!

Hey Pug-We have lots of foxtails in Oregon where we spend our summers. I hate having to be carried because they get in my eyes and face. Sometimes being a little pug isnt very much fun. :(Frankie from Seattle

Puglet,Like Lola said, we have lots of foxtails in the East Bay. I even saw a rattlesnake once - that really freaked out my human! One time I picked up a tick and was rushed to the vet to get it removed! Nature is brutal! Sometimes on my walks, I get picked up but I really love being carried... and at 28 pounds, that is truly love!

We have cactus, coyote's, scorpions, gigantic centapeeds, buzzards the size of a Volkswagon beetle.. don't think we have foxtails at least we never saw them. And yes rattlesnakes the bad things that they are, but our dad says they keep down the rodent population.

We have hornets and wasps. If Daisy gets bitten she swells up like a whale! Off to the emergency vet so she can have a needle and IV with the cure in it. Luckily this has only happened three times in her eleven years.

Do you have crows and magpies? When they start skreeching at each other you would think it was a fire alarm! They also swoop down at Daisy like they own her yard. Go away creepy birds!